CASE 03·Metal fasteners

SPEC Products × Intellicon Solutions

A traditional screw maker turns the tables with AI
20 years of production data
becomes the factory’s virtual engineer

24 yearsIn metal fasteners

20 yearsOf production data loaded into the AI

3 days→hoursMold design

NT$2.4BAnnual revenue against the trend, up more than 5%

Before the rollout

SPEC Products Corp. leads Taiwan’s metal fastener industry, with more than 24 years in screw and fastener manufacturing, based in the densest screw cluster in the country. Global inflation and the pressure to destock have kept the screw business in a slump, and with rock-bottom orders coming out of China and India, companies have no choice but to move from traditional volume production to high value-added smart manufacturing.

Two things stood in the way of that shift. People: the semiconductor cluster in southern Taiwan draws talent away and makes recruitment hard for traditional manufacturers, while training a skilled technician often takes 10 to 20 years. Orders: international carmakers have moved from long runs to short runs and extremely small-batch orders, and they want accurate quotes and delivery dates immediately. Calculating by hand could no longer keep up.

Goals

Turn 20 years of factory production data into a knowledge base AI can read
Build a “virtual engineer” to speed up quoting, quality control and mold design
Keep the expertise of veteran technicians and avoid losing it
Shorten the cycle for checking special specifications and designing molds
Become more attractive to young talent and ease the shortage of people in manufacturing

What Intellicon Solutions did

SPEC Products worked with Intellicon Solutions to position AI as the factory’s “virtual engineer”, taking on the pain points of the shift one at a time:

01Data integration: 20 years of factory production data loaded into the AI, covering quotations, work orders, quality control forms and other industry records
02Reasoning of its own: the Agent reads industry data and reasons ahead from it, rather than matching keywords
03Passing on experience: the knowledge of veteran technicians stays in the system, so newcomers get up to speed by working with the AI
04Human-AI collaboration: the AI is a great teammate for frontline staff, taking over the repetitive and laborious work of pulling up data

Use cases: AI in the critical processes

Smart quoting: for carmakers’ short runs and extremely small-batch orders, the AI pulls historical data and specifications instantly, which speeds up the reply considerably
Faster mold design: checking special specifications and designing a mold used to take 3 days and now takes a few hours
Quality management: the AI reads quality control forms and helps frontline staff compare specifications against past records quickly
Passing on knowledge: veteran technicians’ experience is digitized, and newcomers build expertise quickly by working with the AI

Results

Revenue up against the trend: annual revenue passed NT$2.4 billion during a downturn in the screw business, growing more than 5%
Much faster processes: checking special specifications and designing molds went from 3 days to a few hours
More attractive to talent: with AI in place, young people see a chance to learn and are more willing to join a traditional industry
Experience as an asset: veteran technicians’ know-how became a digital asset the AI can use, which keeps that expertise from being lost

What the management team says

“SPEC Products has spent more than 24 years in metal fasteners. Facing sharper competition in global manufacturing and a widening talent gap, we chose to embrace AI. Through EgentHub we turned 20 years of factory production data into the AI’s brain, and the virtual engineer became the best partner our frontline colleagues have. AI has not only raised efficiency; it has let young people see a future in traditional industry and made them willing to join us and grow with us.”

— 張宏誠, Chairman, SPEC Products Corp.

Media coverage

TVBS covered the results of SPEC Products’ AI transformation in a feature program, showing how a traditional screw business is redefining its competitiveness with AI and moving from a hands-dirty trade to smart manufacturing.

What the partner says

“The SPEC Products Corp. case is a perfect illustration of what AI is worth in a traditional industry. What they faced was not only a question of efficiency but a fight for survival against a talent gap and an industry in transition. Through EgentHub, 20 years of production data became the AI’s brain, and the virtual engineer supports frontline staff. This is exactly the model of AI empowerment we are pushing for — not replacing people, but making people stronger.”

— Albert Chen, CEO, Intellicon Solutions

What’s next

SPEC Products is turning from a hands-dirty trade into a benchmark for smart manufacturing. Pair a traditional industry with technology and it can hold a key position in the global supply chain just as well. For SPEC Products, AI is already core infrastructure, used to attract young talent, pass on technical experience, and stand up to international competition.

Next, SPEC Products will extend AI from quoting and quality control into more of production, building a smart factory that keeps evolving and keeping Taiwan’s screw industry in a place the global supply chain cannot replace.